Saturday figures to be big in the Legends Division

Tuesday

Oct 16, 2012 at 10:10 AMOct 16, 2012 at 10:55 AM

This Saturday will be a big week in the Legends Division Big 10 Conference football race.

Kirt Manion/Nebraska City News-Press

This Saturday will be a big week in the Legends Division Big 10 Conference football race.Nebraska, coming off its blow out loss at Ohio State, will look to stem the tide at Northwestern, a team that beat the Huskers last year in Lincoln. The Huskers control their own destiny and could win their way to an appearance at the Big 10 title game in December, but tests loom at home against Michigan and at Michigan State in the next two weeks. Should Nebraska stumble against Northwestern, it could set up some rather disasterous circumstances for the Huskers.Iowa goes into Saturday riding the momentum of Coach Kirk Ferentz's 100th win at Iowa, an overtime triumph over Michigan State. The Hawkeyes could keep pace with Michigan as a top team in the division by winning a prime time home match up with Penn State.Michigan plays at home against Michigan State. Big ovations were reported last week at Ann Arbor when the Iowa-Michigan State score was announced. The Wolverines are hoping to end a five-year drought against Michigan State and keep pace with Iowa at the top of the division.Due to NCAA sanctions, the race in the Leaders Division is less than scintillating. Wisconsin is the leader by default, despite trailing conference unbeatens Ohio State and Penn State. The Badgers have a 2-1 conference record. Purdue, Illinois and Indiana have a combined record of 0-8 in league play.

Outside of the Big 10, an intriguing match up to watch figures to be Kansas State at West Virgina. The Mountaineers beat Texas at Austin and were thought to be a conference front runner until last week's blow out loss to Texas Tech. The Wildcats are unbeaten and ranked in the top five, but are coming off a bit of a scare at Ames last weekend against Iowa State.